Support structures for golf club heads and methods of manufacturing improved support structures

ABSTRACT

A golf club head, preferably a putter head, comprising at least one structural support member is disclosed herein. The structural support member has a smooth, organic-looking aesthetic, with a continuously changing curvature along its spline and at least one surface, and preferably connects one portion of the golf club head to another portion. Where the support member connects to other portions of the golf club head, the surfaces of the member have a curvature that changes smoothly and continuously, lacking any sharp corners. The support member may be part of a lattice structure formed via binder jetting.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 17/327,387, filed on May 21, 2021, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/166,028, filed on Mar.25, 2021, which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 17/092,630, filed on Nov. 9, 2020, and issued onSep. 28, 2021, as U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/130,029, which is acontinuation application of Ser. No. 16/836,682, filed on Mar. 31, 2020,and issued on Nov. 17, 2020, as U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/835,789, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/892,924,filed on Aug. 28, 2019, and is a continuation-in-part application ofU.S. Design patent application No. 29/673358, filed on Dec. 13, 2018,and issued on Apr. 7, 2020, as U.S. Design Pat. No. D880631, and is acontinuation-in-part of U.S. Design patent application No. 29/703641,filed on Aug. 28, 2019, and issued on Mar. 30, 2021, as U.S. Design Pat.No. D914814, the disclosure of each of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety herein.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a golf club head, particularly aputter, with improved structures supporting upper and lower portions ofthe head, and methods of manufacturing golf club components with suchimproved structures.

Description of the Related Art

Traditional CAD modeling techniques used to design golf club heads, andparticularly putters, lend themselves to certain, angular styles orappearances. Organic-looking, smoothly curved features are more timeconsuming and difficult to create than traditional, angled connectors.As a result, support structures created with traditional modelingtechniques tend to have common characteristics. Specifically, as shownin FIGS. 1-3 , tangency T between neighboring surfaces is common, butthese transitions do not typically have smooth curvatures, especiallywhere two or more slender structural elements intersect. In fact, asshown in FIGS. 4-5 , the surface curvature changes along the spline ofthe structural elements are discrete. Furthermore, these traditionalconnections are subject to increased strain and breakage.

Typical additive manufacturing techniques, also known as 3D printing,can be used to create the prior art structures, but have their owndrawbacks. For example, direct metal laser sintering (DMLS), directmetal laser melting (DMLM), and electron beam additive manufacturing(EBAM) use controlled energy sources, including lasers and electronbeams in which intense, extremely localized heat is applied to metalpowder to melt and/or sinter adjacent particles together. This intenseheat tends to cause warping, porosity (which creates inconsistentdensity throughout the part), distortion, surface defects, and evencracking of the parts during the build process, even when the laserintensity, focal length, and path speed are optimal.

Other characteristics of these techniques include using very smallmoving points to build parts, provide limited solutions for removingexcess powder from the finished part, require significantpost-processing to remove supports and support footprints on thesurface, and require a very specific grade of metal powder (e.g.,smaller than 40 microns, spherical particles) for high resolution and toguarantee an even sintering and a relatively smooth surface finish.These characteristics render these techniques suboptimal andcost-prohibitive for golf club manufacturing purposes.

The most significant drawback of the DMLS and DMLM techniques is theconstraint they place on overhang angle, examples of which are shown inFIG. 45 . As golf club parts are built, structures created by the priorart additive manufacturing techniques described above are notself-supporting, with thin beads of sintered material tending to sag andfall if they are not supported by connections to the build plate oranother portion of the part that has already been fully sintered. As aresult, a typical design requirement is that all surfaces be no morethan 45° from the build axis, but the limit is typically 30-60°. Theonly alternative to the overhang angle design requirement is to addsupports to the structure to help prevent sagging during the buildprocess. The supports used for DMLS, DMLM, and EBAM are metal and aredirectly connected to the part, and are difficult to remove withoutnegatively affecting the surface finish on the part or creating a largeopening in the club head.

The overhang angle constraint dramatically limits the potential ofotherwise promising designs that are based on modern generative designtechniques like topology optimization. It also severely limits thetypes, orientations and sizes of cells that can be manufactured to formlattices. Even when a designer settles on a cell type that satisfies theoverhang constraint, there is often no room for further optimization ofthe lattice via purposeful warping, skewing or otherwise stretchingportions of the lattice to generate an improved design. It is alsoimpractical to use metal supports to make fine lattice structuresfeasible to manufacture. If a lattice were to include overhanging beamsand the beams are supported, the supports would be impossible to remove.

Therefore, there is a need for a golf club head, and particularly aputter, with improved structural support members and connectivitybetween those support members and other parts of the golf club head, andimproved methods of manufacturing such structural support members.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a golf club head, and particularlya putter, comprising support structures that: (1) are less susceptibleto stress concentrations during the use of the structural part orcomponent; (2) allow for improved flow and reduced porosity ininvestment casting operations; (3) allow for improved flow and reducedporosity in plastic injection molding, metal injection molding, andcompression molding; (4) are less susceptible to local stressconcentrations and cracking during sintering; and/or (5) are lesssusceptible to local stress concentrations and cracking during the buildprocess for laser-based 3D printing methods, and particularly binderjetting. The support structures of the present invention have an“organic” appearance that is not found in prior art structural golf clubparts.

One aspect of the present invention is a method comprising the steps ofspreading layers of powdered material across a portion of a binder jetmachine, depositing liquid binder on regions of each layer of powder sothat the binder bonds adjacent particles of powdered material together,repeating the spreading and depositing steps until a green part isformed, and sintering the green part to create a final part, wherein thefinal part is a putter head body comprising at least one support member.In some embodiments, the method may further comprise the step ofremoving binder via a debinding process, and the removing step may occurprior to the sintering step. In a further embodiment, the removing stepand the sintering step may occur in the same furnace.

In other embodiments, the method may further comprise the step ofpreparing design parameters for the golf club component usingoptimization software, and the preparing step may occur before all othersteps of the method. In a further embodiment, the preparing step maycomprise inputting into the optimization software at least oneparameter, which may be selected from the group consisting of individualplayer measurements, club head delivery data, impact location, andhistorical player data.

In a further embodiment, the at least one support member may comprise afirst end, a second end, a surface, an equivalent diameter, a spline,and a cross-sectional shape, the equivalent diameter D_(E) of a crosssection taken at any point along the spline may be calculated using theformula D_(E)=(4*A/pi){circumflex over ( )}(½), A may be an area of across-section of the support member, the at least one support member mayhave a length that is greater than D_(EA), and D_(EA) may be defined asthe average equivalent diameter along the length of the entire supportmember. In some embodiments, the equivalent diameter may always begreater than 0.010 inch and less than 1.000 inch. In a furtherembodiment, the spline may be curved and have a length that is at leastthree times the value of the average equivalent diameter D_(EA). Inother embodiments, the equivalent diameter may change continuously alongthe entire length of the spline. In still other embodiments, thecross-sectional shape may change continuously along the entire length ofthe spline. In any of these embodiments, the at least one support membermay connect a sole portion of the putter head to a top portion of theputter head.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is a putter head comprisinga body composed of a first material having a first density, the bodycomprising a face portion, a top portion, and a sole portion with a solerecess, a sole insert composed of a second material having a seconddensity, and at least one weight composed of a third material having athird density, wherein the second density is less than the firstdensity, wherein the third density is greater than the first density,wherein the sole insert comprises a lattice structure with at least onesupport structure, wherein the at least one support structure comprisesa length, a width, a first end, a second end, a surface, a variableequivalent diameter, a spline, and a variable cross-sectional shape, andwherein the at least one weight is affixed to the sole portion. In someembodiments, the length may be greater than the average equivalentdiameter, the equivalent diameter D_(E) of a cross section taken at anypoint along the spline may be calculated using the formulaD_(E)=(4*A/pi){circumflex over ( )}(½), A may be an area of across-section of the support member, the equivalent diameter may begreater than 0.010 inch and less than 1.000 inch and may changecontinuously along the length of the spline, the spline may be curvedand have a length that is at least three times the value of theequivalent diameter, and the cross-sectional shape may changecontinuously along the length of the spline.

In some embodiments, the at least one support member may extend at anangle from the sole portion, and the angle may be less than 75°. Inother embodiments, the at least one support member may not comprise anysharp corners or simple fillets with constant surface structure. Instill other embodiments, the at least one support member may comprise atleast six support members, and each of the support members may extend atan angle with respect to the sole portion. In another embodiment, theequivalent diameter may be no less than 0.025 inch and no more than0.500 inch at any point taken along the length of the support member. Ina further embodiment, the equivalent diameter may be no less than 0.050inch and no more than 0.250 inch at any point taken along the length ofthe support member. In any of the embodiments, the sole insert may becomposed of a non-metal material, which may include reinforcing fibers.

Having briefly described the present invention, the above and furtherobjects, features and advantages thereof will be recognized by thoseskilled in the pertinent art from the following detailed description ofthe invention when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is top perspective view of a first prior art support structure.

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of a second prior art supportstructure.

FIG. 3 is a line drawing of a third prior art support structure.

FIG. 4 is a graph showing the curvature of the spline of the embodimentshown in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 5 is a graph showing the derivative of curvature vs. position onspline of the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 .

FIG. 6 is a top perspective view of a first embodiment of the supportmember of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of a second embodiment of the supportmember of the present invention.

FIG. 8 line drawing of a third embodiment of the support member of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a line drawing of a fourth embodiment of the support member ofthe present invention.

FIG. 10 is a graph showing the curvature of the spline of the embodimentshown in FIG. 8 .

FIG. 11 is a graph showing the derivative of curvature vs. position onspline of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8 .

FIG. 12 is a side perspective view of a putter head with shadingrepresenting an enclosed volume.

FIG. 13 is a rear perspective view of the putter head shown in FIG. 12without the enclosed volume shading and incorporating a plurality ofsupport members of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a side view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 13 .

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of the putter head shown in FIG. 13along lines 15-15.

FIG. 16 is a process flow chart illustrating a binder jetting process.

FIG. 17 is an image of an exemplary binder jet machine.

FIG. 18 is a top plan view of a uniform lattice pattern.

FIG. 19 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.18

FIG. 20 is a top plan, 40° filtered from XY plane view of the latticepattern shown in FIG. 18 .

FIG. 21 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.20 .

FIG. 22 is a top perspective view of a twisted lattice pattern.

FIG. 23 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.22 .

FIG. 24 is a top perspective, 40° filtered from XY plane view of thelattice pattern shown in FIG. 22 .

FIG. 25 is a top plan view of a variable density lattice pattern.

FIG. 26 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.25 .

FIG. 27 is a top plan, 40° filtered from XY plane view of the latticepattern shown in FIG. 25 .

FIG. 28 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.27 .

FIG. 29 is a top plan view of a non-ordered collection of beams andtetrahedral cell lattice pattern.

FIG. 30 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.29 .

FIG. 31 is a top plan, 40° filtered from XY plane view of the latticepattern shown in FIG. 29 .

FIG. 32 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.31 .

FIG. 33 is top plan view of a conformal, spherical top lattice pattern.

FIG. 34 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.33 .

FIG. 35 is a top plan, 40° filtered from XY plane view of the latticepattern shown in FIG. 33 .

FIG. 36 is a side perspective view of the lattice pattern shown in FIG.35 .

FIG. 37 is a top plan view of a unit cell of a lattice.

FIG. 38 is a side perspective view of the unit cell shown in FIG. 37 .

FIG. 39 is a sole perspective view of a putter head with a sole puckformed from a lattice.

FIG. 40 is a sole plan view of the putter head shown in FIG. 39 .

FIG. 41 is a cross-sectional view of the putter head shown in FIG. 39taken along lines 41-41.

FIG. 42 is a sole plan view of another embodiment of a putter head witha sole puck formed from a lattice.

FIG. 43 is a sole plan view of another embodiment of a putter head witha sole puck formed from a lattice.

FIG. 44 is a sole perspective view of another embodiment of a putterhead with a sole puck formed from a lattice.

FIG. 45 is a drawing of a build plate with beams having differentoverhang angles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a golf club head, and particularlya putter head 10, with improved structural support members 20. Theputter head 10 comprises a face 16, a sole portion 12 extending from alower edge 18 of the face 16, and a top or crown portion 14 extendingfrom an upper edge 17 of the face 16. Though the embodiments herein aredirected to a putter head, the novel features disclosed herein may beused in connection with other types of golf club heads, such as drivers,fairway woods, irons, and wedges.

In order to attain an optimized design for the support members 20, therelationship between curvature, rate of change of curvature, splinelength, cross-sectional area, and cross-sectional shape of eachstructure must be examined. By controlling each of these geometricfeatures, support members 20 can be created that are much improved overexisting prior art support structures within golf club heads.

The support members 20 of the present invention include networks ofslender connected elements, and may also be referred to as rods, beams,or ligaments. Each support member 20 is either connected to anothersupport member 20 or to the surface of another type of structure, suchas a sole portion 12 or top or crown portion 14 of the putter head 10.In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 13-15 , the support membersconnect the sole portion 12 to the crown portion 14, but in analternative embodiment, the support members may attach only to a singlesurface, such as the face 16. Some support members 20 also have at leastone connection to another support member 20.

At the connection to another support member 20, the surfaces 22 of thesupport member 20 have a curvature that changes smoothly andcontinuously. There are no sharp corners and there are no simple filletswith constant surface curvature.

As shown in FIG. 9 , for each support member 20, the equivalent diameterD_(E) is the diameter of a circle 42 with the same area A as the crosssection 44 of the support member 20. The cross section 44 is taken inthe plane 46 normal to the spline 40 running through the center of thesupport member 20 along its length. The support member 20 cross section44 has an area A, and the equivalent diameter D_(E) is defined asD_(E)=(4*A/pi){circumflex over ( )}(½).

The length of the spline 40 is no less than three times the equivalentdiameter D_(E). The equivalent diameter D_(E) and the cross sectionalshape 44 change continuously along the length of each spline 40, but theequivalent diameter D_(E) is always greater than 0.010″ and always lessthan 1.000″, more preferably 0.050″-0.500,″ and most preferably0.050″-0.250″.

As shown in FIGS. 6-9 , each spline 40 is curved, and as illustrated inFIGS. 10-11 , the curvature continuously changes along the length of thespline 40, with specific ranges of curvature and rates of change ofcurvature. The entire network of support members 20 occupies a volume 30that is no greater than 75% of the enveloping volume 50. The envelopingvolume 50, which is illustrated in FIG. 12 , is the total volume thatcould be occupied by support members 20 given the application.

When compared with prior art structural members, the support members 20disclosed herein (1) are less susceptible to stress concentrationsduring the use of the structural part or component, (2) allow forimproved flow and reduced porosity in investment casting operations, (3)allow for improved flow and reduced porosity in plastic injectionmolding, metal injection molding, compression molding, (4) are lesssusceptible to local stress concentrations and cracking during sinteringof metal injection molding or 3D printed parts, and (5) are lesssusceptible to local stress concentrations and cracking during the buildprocess for laser-based 3D printing methods, like binder jetting. Thesupport members 20 of the present invention also have a unique “organic”appearance that is not found in prior art structural golf club parts.

Though the support members 20 disclosed herein may, in limitedcircumstances, be manufactured via investment casting, plastic injectionmolding, compression molding, forging, forming, and metal injectionmolding, they are preferably formed via 3D printing, and most preferablyvia binder jetting. A preferred binder jet process 100 is illustrated inFIGS. 16 and 17 , and includes a first step 111 of spreading layers ofpowder 130 evenly across the build plate 122 of a binder jet machine120; this step can be performed manually or with a re-coater or rollerdevice 125. This occurs in the build box 121 portion of the binder jetmachine 120, where a build plate 122 lowers as each layer of powder 130is applied. In a second step 112, a printer head 124 deposits liquidbinder 135 on the appropriate regions for each layer of powder 130,leaving unbound powder 132 within the build box 121. In a third step113, the binder bonds adjacent powder particles together. In a fourthstep 114, the first and second steps 111, 112 are repeated as many timesas desired by the manufacturer to form a green (unfinished) part 140with an intended geometry.

In an optional fifth step 115, a portion of the binder 135 is removedusing a debinding process, which may be via a liquid bath or by heatingthe green part to melt or vaporize the binder. In a sixth step 116, thegreen part 140 is sintered in a furnace, where, at the elevatedtemperature, the metal particles repack, diffuse, and flow into voids,causing a contraction of the overall part. As this sintering step 116continues, adjacent particles eventually fuse together, forming a finalpart 240, examples of which are shown in FIGS. 39-44 . This processcauses 10-25% shrinkage of the part from the green state 140 to itsfinal form 240, and the final part has a void content that is less than10% throughout. In some embodiments, the debinding and sintering steps115, 116 may be conducted in the same furnace. In an optional step 117,before the binder jet process 110 begins, optimization software can beused to design a high performance club head or component in CAD. Thisstep allows the manufacturer to use individual player measurements, clubhead delivery data, and impact location in combination with historicalplayer data and machine learning, artificial intelligence, stochasticanalysis, and/or gradient based optimization methods to create asuperior club component or head design.

Though binder jetting is a powder-based process for additivemanufacturing, it differs in key respects from other directed energypowder based systems like DMLS, DMLM, and EBAM. The binder jet process110 provides key efficiency and cost saving improvements over DMLM,DMLS, and EBAM that makes it uniquely suitable for use in golf clubcomponent manufacturing. For example, binder jetting is more energyefficient because it is not performed at extremely elevated temperaturesand is a much less time consuming process, with speeds up to one hundredtimes faster than DMLS. The secondary debinding step 115 and sinteringstep 116 are batch processes which help keep overall cycle times low,and green parts 140 can be stacked in a binder jet machine 120 in threedimensions because the powder is generally self-supporting during thebuild process, obviating the requirement for supports or directconnections to a build plate. Therefore, because there is no need toremove beams, members, or ligaments because of length, aspect ratio, oroverhang angle requirements, lattice structures can take any form andhave a much wider range of geometries than are possible when provided byprior art printing methods.

The binder jet process 110 also allows for printing with differentpowdered materials, including metals and non-metals like plastic. Itworks with standard metal powders common in the metal injection molding(MIM) industry, which has well-established and readily available powdersupply chains in place, so the metal powder used in the binder jetprocess 110 is generally much less expensive than the powders used inthe DMLS, DMLM, and EBAM directed energy modalities. The improved designfreedom, lower cost and faster throughput of binder jet makes itsuitable for individually customized club heads, prototypes, and largerscale mass-produced designs for the general public.

Lattice Structures

The binder jet process 110 described above allows for the creation oflattice structures, including those with beams that would otherwiseviolate the standard overhang angle limitation set by DMLM, DMLS, andEBAM. It can also be used to create triply periodic minimal surfaces(TPMS) and non-periodic or non-ordered collections of beams.

Compressing or otherwise reducing the size of cells in a section of thelattice increases the effective density and stiffness in those regions.Conversely, expanding the size of the cells is an effective way tointentionally design in a reduction of effective density and stiffness.Effective density is defined as the density of a unit of volume in whicha fully dense material may be combined with geometrically designed-invoids, which can be filled with air or another material, and/or withanother or other fully dense materials. The unit volume can be definedusing a geometrically functional space, such as the lattice cell shownin FIGS. 37-38 or a three dimensional shape fitted to a typical section,and in particular the volume of a sphere with a diameter that is threeto five times the equivalent diameter of the nearest beam or collectionof beams. The binder jet process allows for the creation of a structurewith a uniform final material density of at least 90%, which contrastswith previous uses of DMLM, DMLS, and EBAM to change the actual materialdensity by purposely creating unstructured porosity in parts.

Examples of lattice structures 160 that can be created using the process10 described above are shown in FIGS. 18-36 , and include warped,twisted, distorted, curved, and stretched lattices that can optimize thestructure for any given application. Individual lattice cells 170 areshown in FIGS. 37-38 , and may be used in addition to or instead of morecomplex lattice structures 60. FIGS. 20, 21, 24-25, 27, 31, 35 and 36illustrate what the more complicated structures look like when a 40°overhang limitation is applied: a significant portion of the structureis lost. Another benefit of not having an overhang angle limitation isthat manufacturers can create less ordered or non-ordered collections ofbeams. The lattice structures 160 shown herein may have repeating cells170 or cells with gradual and/or continuously changing size, aspectratio, skew, and beam diameter. The change rate between adjacent cells170 and beams 180 may be 10%, 25%, 50%, and up to 100%, and this changepattern may apply to all or only some of the volume occupied by thelattice structure.

Cell 170 type can change abruptly if different regions of a componentneed different effective material properties, but size, aspect ratio,skew, beam diameter can then change continuously as distance from thecell type boundary increases. The diameter of the beams 180 may beconstant or tapered, and while their cross sections are typicallycircular, they can also be elliptical. Such structures may take the formof a series of connected tetrahedral cells 170, as shown in FIGS. 29-30. The lack of an overhang constraint allows for the beams 80 to beoriented in any fashion and therefor allows for the generation of aconformal lattice of virtually any size and shape. Modern meshingsoftware also provide quick and simple method by which to fill volumesand vary the lattice density via non-ordered tetrahedral cells.Tetrahedral cells 170 are also very useful for varying cell size andshape throughout a part.

Lattice Applications in Putter Heads

The binder jet process 110 permits manufacturers to take full advantageof generative design and topology optimization results in putter heads200, as shown in FIGS. 39-44 . The lattice structures 160 disclosedherein can be built into their respective golf club heads in one 3Dprinting step, or may be formed separately from the golf club head andthen permanently affixed to the golf club head at a later time. Thesedesigns illustrate the kinds of improvements to golf club head center ofgravity (CG), moment of inertia (MOI), stress, acoustics (e.g., modalfrequencies), ball speed, launch angle, spin rates, forgiveness, androbustness that can be made when manufacturing constraints are removedvia the use of optimization software and 3D printing.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIGS. 39-41. The putter head 200 of this embodiment includes a body 210 with a faceportion 212 and a face recess 213, a top portion 214, and a sole portion216 with a sole recess 217, a face insert 220 disposed within the facerecess 213, and sole weights 230, 235 and a sole insert or puck 240affixed within the sole recess 217 so that the weights 230, 235 aredisposed on heel and toe sides of the puck 240. The body 210 of theputter, and particularly the top portion 214, is formed of a metal alloyhaving a first density and has a body CG. The weights 230, 235 arepreferably located as far as possible from the body CG and are composedof a metal alloy having a second density greater than the first density.While the hosel 218 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 39-41 is formedintegrally with the body 210, in other embodiments it may be formedseparately from a different material and attached in a secondary stepduring manufacturing.

The puck 240 is printed using the binder jet process described abovefrom at least one material with a third density that is lower than thefirst and second densities, and comprises one or more lattice structures260 that fill the volume of the sole recess 217, freeing updiscretionary mass to be used in high-density weighting at otherlocations on the putter head 200, preferably at the heel and toe edgesand/or the rear edge 215. The materials from which the puck 240 may beprinted include plastic, nylon, polycarbonate, polyetherimide,polyetheretherketone, and polyetherketoneketone. These materials can bereinforced with fibers such as carbon, fiberglass, Kevlar®, boron,and/or ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, which may be continuousor long relative to the size of the part or the putter, or very short.

Other putter head 200 embodiments are shown in FIGS. 42-44 . In theseembodiments, the weights 230, 235 are threaded and are disposed at therear edge 215 of the body, on either side and mostly behind the puck240. In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 42 and 44 , the pucks 240 havedifferent lattice patterns 160 than the one shown in FIGS. 39-41 , anddo not fill the entirety of the sole recess 217. In the embodiment shownin FIG. 43 , the puck 240 has another lattice pattern 160 and fills theentirety of the sole recess 217. In any of these embodiments, the puck240 may be bonded and/or mechanically fixed to the body 210. Thematerials, locations, and dimensions may be customized to suitparticular players.

In each of these embodiments, the weights 230, 235 preferably are madeof a higher density material than the body 210, though in otherembodiments, they may have an equivalent density or lower density.Moving weight away from the center improves the mass properties of theputter head 200, increasing MOI and locating the CG at a point on theputter head 200 that reduces twist at impact, reduces offline misses,and improves ball speed robustness on mishits.

From the foregoing it is believed that those skilled in the pertinentart will recognize the meritorious advancement of this invention andwill readily understand that while the present invention has beendescribed in association with a preferred embodiment thereof, and otherembodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, numerous changes,modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope of this invention which isintended to be unlimited by the foregoing except as may appear in thefollowing appended claims. Therefore, the embodiments of the inventionin which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined inthe following appended claims.

We claim as our invention the following:
 1. A method for manufacturing acomponent for a golf club head, the method comprising: forming a greenpart for the component of the golf club head by depositing liquid binderon a plurality of layers of a powdered material spread across a binderjet machine to bond adjacent particles of the powdered materialtogether; and sintering the green part to create a final part for thecomponent, wherein the final part comprises at least one support membercomprising an equivalent diameter and a spline; wherein the equivalentdiameter D_(E) of a cross section taken at any point along the spline iscalculated using a formula D_(E)=(4*A/pi){circumflex over ( )}(½),wherein A is an area of a cross-section of the support member; whereinthe equivalent diameter is greater than 0.010 inch and less than 1.000inch and changes continuously along a length of the spline.
 2. Themethod according to claim 1, wherein the length is greater than anaverage equivalent diameter, wherein the spline is curved and the lengthis at least three times a value of the equivalent diameter, and whereinthe cross-sectional shape changes continuously along the length of thespline.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least onesupport member extends at an angle from a sole portion, and wherein theangle is less than 75°.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein theat least one support member does not comprise any sharp corners orsimple fillets with constant surface structure.
 5. The method accordingto claim 1, wherein the final part comprises at least six supportmembers, and wherein each of the support members extends at an anglewith respect to a sole portion.
 6. The method according to claim 2,wherein the equivalent diameter is no less than 0.025 inch and no morethan 0.500 inch at any point taken along a length of the support member.7. The method according to claim 2, wherein the equivalent diameter isno less than 0.050 inch and no more than 0.250 inch at any point takenalong a length of the support member.
 8. A method for manufacturing acomponent for a golf club head, the method comprising: forming a greenpart for the component of the golf club head by depositing liquid binderon a plurality of layers of a powdered material spread across a binderjet machine to bond adjacent particles of the powdered materialtogether; and sintering the green part to create a final part for thecomponent, wherein the final part comprises a plurality of supportmembers, each support member comprising an equivalent diameter and aspline; wherein the equivalent diameter D_(E) of a cross section takenat any point along the spline is calculated using a formulaD_(E)=(4*A/pi){circumflex over ( )}(½), wherein A is an area of across-section of the support member; wherein the equivalent diameter isgreater than 0.010 inch and less than 1.000 inch and changescontinuously along a length of the spline.
 9. A method for manufacturinga golf club head, the method comprising: forming a green part for thegolf club head by depositing liquid binder on a plurality of layers of apowdered material spread across a binder jet machine to bond adjacentparticles of the powdered material together; and sintering the greenpart to create a final part for the golf club head, wherein the finalpart comprises a plurality of support members, each support membercomprising an equivalent diameter and a spline; wherein the equivalentdiameter D_(E) of a cross section taken at any point along the spline iscalculated using a formula D_(E)=(4*A/pi){circumflex over ( )}(½),wherein A is an area of a cross-section of the support member; whereinthe equivalent diameter is greater than 0.010 inch and less than 1.000inch and changes continuously along a length of the spline.